1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an artificial hair filament having antibacterial and antifungal properties, and a method and device for preparing the same, wherein the artificial hair filament has a sheath/core-type complex structure.
2. Discussion of Related Art
With the improved and stabilized standard of living, there is a growing population who uses artificial hair for beauty. Since artificial hair is transplanted in a user's scalp or glued to the user's scalp, it is contaminated with sweat secreted from a human body, heat, dust from external environments, and impurities, or contaminated with bacteria, and fungi. These contaminations have adverse effects on the user's hygiene and health. Therefore, the artificial hair should be prepared to have antibacterial and antifungal effects.
In recent years, a variety of antibacterial materials have been widely used to develop and produce an artificial hair filament having antibacterial and antifungal effects (Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2007-0050147).
However, the artificial hair filament prepared using an antibacterial material has a problem in that it shows considerably degraded antibacterial and antifungal effects due to its poor durability when it is washed several times. Also, some artificial hair filaments prepared as known in the art show antibacterial and antifungal effects, but some do not show antibacterial and antifungal effects. As a result, they have a problem in that their antibacterial and antifungal effects are not uniformly controlled. Therefore, there is an urgent demand to develop an artificial hair filament showing excellent and long-lasting antibacterial and antifungal effects.
Also, since most antibacterial materials include an inorganic material, the inorganic material accumulates in a spinneret during use of a spinning machine, which leads to an increase in internal pressure of the spinneret. Also, filaments may be cut when the internal pressure of the spinneret is very high.
Meanwhile, a post-processing method includes a method of providing an artificial hair filament with antibacterial and antifungal properties. As such a method, a dipping method and a spraying method have been generally performed. A double-dipping method generally includes passing an artificial hair filament through a tank carrying a drug, removing an excessive amount of the drug under a constant pressure using a device such as a roller and subjecting the artificial hair filament to a process such as heat treatment. Although such a process has an advantage in that it is possible to treat an entire surface of a filament with a drug, it has a problem in that it is difficult to increase a concentration of the drug, and also the drug attached to a surface of the fiber may be detached during removal of an excessive amount of the drug, which makes it difficult to perform uniform treatment. Meanwhile, the spraying method is a widely used method which includes spraying a drug under an air pressure to treat a surface of a fiber with the drug. Although such a method may be carried out using simple equipment, it has problems in that it is difficult to uniformly treat an entire surface of a filament with a drug since large droplets are formed when the drug is sprayed under an air pressure, and a lower portion of the filament is not treated with the drug since an upper portion of the filament is generally treated with the drug.